Posts Tagged Comic Con

Cosplayers and cosplaying can range from just wearing something simple as a shirt and pants worn by a character in a movie, cartoon, etc. all the way up to people who build their costume and accessories from the ground up. The idea, in my opinion, is to enjoy doing it no matter what you choose to do or be; how deep into it you may get. I admire the ones that go hard into their character as in full body painting or heavy costuming but I get squeamish at the ones who can do the wild contacts that change their eyes. That’s got to hurt!

Our cosplay heroes here are: Daryl Dixon from The Walking Dead, Ghostbusters, no idea but very cool, and those darn evil clowns!

This was going to be a wordless Wednesday post but then I realized not everyone is a Whovian – you poor things 🙂 There is always a Doctor Who contingency at each and every comic-con no matter where it is and this one had a Tardis with a Weeping Angel in front. Huh I hear you say?

The Weeping Angels have been persistently nominated as one of the most popular and frightening monsters in the Doctor Who universe; while the Daleks are nothing to sneeze at when it comes to terrors of the universe, these creatures are just creepy. In essence, they look like normal(ish) stone statues of angels like we see almost anywhere but in reality they are a race of predatory creatures old as the universe, no one knows where they come from, that basically kill you kindly. As long as you don’t blink and keep your gaze upon them until you are far enough away from them (they move incredibly fast) they remain stone. Blink and they advance upon you until they can touch you. Once touched, well, say goodbye to your present! They live off the energy of your potential life span in the present as you live out your days unharmed – other than shocked at not being where you once were – in some past timeline before you were born.

Or as the Doctor has said “The Angels are the only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely.” Oh those wild and crazy psychopaths!

I don’t know if it was because they were doing construction at the convention center (but I doubt that highly) or if it was because the leadership of the company has changed hands and they are now doing it differently or if, sadly, it was indicative of the sign of our times, but the convention this year was different. In prior years you went to the ticket windows to get your tickets and your put on entirely too tight wristbands, had your “weapon” checked and then ID’d with a zip tie and then it was into the convention after showing the guards at the entry doors your wrist.

This year, before you could even get your tickets you had to go through one line with your “weapon” to be wand scanned like at the airports and then have the weapon tagged. Others had to stand in line and empty pockets of cell phones etc. and get scanned. Is this the new managements way of doing things or an indicator of how bad things have happened when there are large gatherings of people. Either way it made for one helluva bottle neck and made me sad; not because of the long lines but because the world has come to this.

But once in, it was different there as well. For one, there were more food vendors inside than before but no places to sit and enjoy other than the floor. The pretzels and the big mugs that you could get unlimited refills of root beer were big winners with the crowds. Another big change was that there was a huge gaming area. I mean big! There was a giant screen for something, video game pods with some classic games (we played Pac-Man and Galaga and realized we weren’t as skilled as we used to be), and computer and gaming system games that had all the boys – and a couple of girls – flocking to the area. There were also less vendors and celebrities at the convention but more sponsored and product placement areas.

Each year you can tell what the trending character is by the number of cosplayers dressed as such. This year there was no standout character but there were some (I think they were promotional folks) dressed for the Pokemon Go craze and the upcoming Kubo and the Two Strings movie. Like I said, it was different this year.

I came! I saw! I cosplayed. I met a hero of mine and there were a lot of mugs filled with root beer (see Beast Boy below chugging) I guess you could say I had some fun. But things were also very different. I’ll elaborate on that tomorrow.

For those of you not into the characters they are – Deadpools, Beast boy and Raven from Teen Titans, and the 4th Doctors from Doctor Who with K9

On my recent trip back to Missouri one of my must stops for the pubs and the scenery is the historic part of St. Charles, Missouri which just happens to have this park in it’s back yard! I’ve walked along part of it – not even a miles worth of walking I’d venture to guess – but I’ve never cycled it. I’m more of a cute basket in the front cruiser type of biker and not hard core like some who have gone miles and miles on this trail.

And I am off again! The local comic-con starts today and I am still last minute tweaking this years outfit. Today I must spray paint the wig – very carefully. Here’s a little hint of who I am going as this year.

Oh, and if you want to see the birthday girl all dolled up then take a peek at the fashion blog over HERE She’d like it if you did 🙂

It’s not just about the costumes and cosplayers; at any and all comic-cons regardless of who is the host, you will find loads of vendors hawking their wares. Comics, novels, paintings and drawings, toys, costumes, swords and knives, autographed memorabilia…the list goes on. Some artists are already famous and some are working their way to it. One such case of an up and coming artist is this young man, Joseph Bayer, of SpiderStopShop. His work just blew me away!

Of course there were also the ubiquitous tee shirts with just about anyone or anything on them. Can you guess what bit of Sy-Fy I’m drawn to here? And I did purchase one of these.

The books range from really REALLY expensive collectors editions comics (we’re talking hundreds to thousands of dollars) to more affordable selections (you will find me at the 3/$1 bin). These Vamplet books are just ideal for the little girl with slightly different tastes or adult – I’m not judging 😉 The story line is about a human young lady who somehow ends up working at a monster nursery. The two dolls shown here are Howliss, a wee werewolfling, and Decayette Shroudmore, a mummy baby. Even baby monsters are adorable…and really soft and cuddly!